Skillet Roasted Chicken Thighs and Green Beans

I don’t cook green beans very often because I loathe spending the 5 to 7 minutes it takes me to prep a pound of them, but I made the sacrifice the other day and loved the results. Roasting green beans in chicken fat for 30 minutes is magical and well worth a few minutes of prep time.

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse green beans, snap off ends and snap into manageable pieces. Pile green beans in a bowl and season with a dusting of salt and garlic powder. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to a cast iron skillet over high heat. Dust both sides of chicken with salt, garlic powder, and black pepper. Brown chicken 4 minutes on one side and then turn to brown the other side another 4 minutes. Cover with a close-fitting lid while browning to minimize splatter. While the second side is browning, add green beans to the skillet and arrange around the chicken thighs. Return lid to skillet. Once the second side has had 4 minutes to brown, move the skillet to the oven and let everything roast together for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. When done, pull from the oven and transfer to plates. Enjoy!

Notes: I tend to eat a pound of vegetables in one sitting when they are cooked with chicken thighs, but I am a big eater.

The inspiration for this meal came from page 29 of Melissa Joulwan’s new cookbook Well Fed: Paleo Recipes For People Who Love To Eat. Melissa’s recipe calls for skinless, boneless chicken thighs, but I like the extra fat produced by the skin. And I save chicken bones to make my own broth. Maybe you should try it both ways and see which you like best.

I bought my cast iron skillet recently – a 12-inch Lodge Logic with matching iron cover. A cast iron skillet might be the greatest cooking tool ever. The 12-inch size is seriously heavy when loaded with food and big enough to cook for a family, but I don’t think I could get enough vegetables in a 10-inch skillet to satisfy me. Lodge is a great brand of cookware. Check it out in my online Store.

Leave a Reply

Tom Denham

My sleep, mood, and athletic performance improved after just a few weeks of eating real, whole foods exclusively. My body fat dropped from 30 percent to 10 percent over the course of one year eating all I wanted of meat, fish, eggs, veggies, some fruit, and lots of healthy fats from coconut, avocados, and olives, but no grains, dairy, peas, beans, sugar, processed foods, or alcohol. This approach to eating is explained in It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. Every recipe on this site meets their "Whole30" criteria AND passes my taste tests. I hope you enjoy these meals as much as I have.